The numbers of body implants have shown an exponential increase in their use. The traditional power sources used in the implants are lithium ion button batteries which need to be frequently recharged, and have a short lifetime of 2 years to 3 years and to replace them a surgery is required every time. These batteries also result in toxic contamination inside the body and result in fatalities.
US 2006/0020239 A1 delineates a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow sensing device for sensing CSF flow through an implantable ventricular shunt. The sensing device is implanted within the CSF shunt, and includes a flow sensor to sense flow rate or shunt blockage. The sensing device is either placed within or adjacent the fluid path through the shunt. The sensing device transmits and sends the flow rate to an external monitoring device by wireless telemetry. The sensing device may be integrally formed as part of the shunt, or clamped onto apportion of the shunt, in which case the sensing device may be reusable. An external monitor receives the transmitted flow signal and presents information based on the flow signal. The disadvantage of the above described device is that the device has to be inductively powered or has to have its own power supply.
There is therefore a need to mitigate the disadvantages associated with the devices explained above.